Jordan Yancy leads Warren to the victory over Downey.
(Downey) Before an overflow, standing room only crowd at Justice Stadium on the campus of Warren High School, the Warren Bears beat the Downey Vikings for the first time since 2009 by a score of 23-6.
The neighborhood rivalry hasn’t been much of one since 2009 as Downey has dominated the last few years. Warren head coach Raul Lara has brought in a different attitude and has the Bears believing in themselves and their current 7-1 record.
The Downey faithful were in full voice and force chearing on the Vikings who struggled for consistency on offense only managing one scoring drive.
The Vikings took their opening drive 69 yards on 10 plays with Daveon Vigilant scoring on a two yard run up the middle with 8:05 left in the opening quarter. The extra point was blocked and Downey led 6-0.
Warren came back on their next drive to take the lead using ten plays of their own to cover 63 yards. Marquise Lowe got the call on a nine yard run. Leonard Arzt booted through the extra point for the 7-0 lead.
The Bears held on to the one point lead for the remainder of the half.
Warren broke through late in the third period on a 16-yard pass from Jordan Yancy to Darnay Harris. The score came with only :18 seconds left in the quarter.
Trevor Hill came on as quarterback on the ensuing drive after Rafeeq Rahim II struggled and threw an interception to set up the Warren go ahead score.
On Hills first play, the ball was snapped before Hill was ready and ended up in the endzone. Hill fell on the ball to avoid the Bears getting a touchdown but served up an easy safety.
Warren held on to their 10 point lead until early in the final frame. Yancy dropped back to pass, couldn’t find an open receiver, pulled the ball down and outran the Viking defenders to the corner of the endzone and put the icing on a 23-6 lead.
Downey got the ball back with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter but was unable to mount a comeback as Hill was intercepted twice, once by Tyrone Singleton and the other by Harris.
With little time left on the clock the Yancy took a knee for the Bears twice to end the game and let the celebration begin.
***Yancy finished the night connecting on 14 of 21 passes for 196 yards with one touchdown and one interception and added 10 yards and a score on the ground.
***Raheem II also completed 14 of 21 passes for 123 yards and an interception.
***Lowe was the leading ground gainer with 47 yards on 17 carries and the lone score.
***Emari Demarcado led the Vikings on the ground with 46 yard on 11 carries.
***Harris led the Warren receiving core with five catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.
***For Downey, the leading receiver was Jalen Thompson with six catches for 66 yards.
***Hill came on in relief of Raheem II and only completed 4 passes for 41 yards but had two costly interceptions.
***Daveon Vigilant played at less than 100% and was able to grind out 39 yards on nine carries with Downey’s only score.
***Warren has another big test on the road next week at Dominguez.
***Downey stays on the road next week but will get a bit of a breather against Gahr.
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